First NASA Solar Probe Named In Honor Of MSU Alumnus

NASA’s Solar Probe Plus spacecraft, which will embark on the world’s first mission to a star in 2018, has been christened the Parker Solar Probe in honor of MSU alumnus Eugene Parker.

Parker graduated from MSU with a degree in physics in 1948 and is recognized globally for developing solar wind theory.

When Parker began his work, space was generally believed to be a hard vacuum. Parker’s theory suggested that high-speed matter and magnetism had an affect on the planets and space within our solar system.

Parker’s theory contradicted established ideas, by arguing that there is in fact movement in outer space.

In 1962, his theory was observed to be true using satellite technology. This drastic change in scientists’ understanding of space was a watershed moment for astronomy.

The Parker Solar Probe will launch in 2018 as part of a mission to probe the outer corona of the Sun.

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"In one study, astronomers used WISE to identify about 2.5 million actively feeding supermassive black holes across the full sky, stretching back to distances more than 10 billion light-years away. About two-thirds of these objects never had been detected before because dust blocks their visible light. WISE easily sees these monsters because their powerful, accreting black holes warm the dust, causing it to glow in infrared light."

Fifty years ago, on Dec. 14, 1962, reporters gathered for a press briefing at NASA headquarters and heard an unearthly sound: radio signals being beamed back by a spacecraft flying within 22,000 miles of Venus.

The Mariner 2 mission to Venus was the first time any spacecraft had ever gone to another planet.

These days, vivid photographs showing scenes from all around the solar system are so ubiquitous that people might easily forget how mysterious our planetary neighbors used to be.